The House just passed a bill to make Washington District of Columbia the 51st US state.
So what should we name it? What would be the capitol?
It would no longer be a "District", it'd be a State. So "Washington DC State" doesn't work, and "Washington State" is taken.
I think "Columbia" is hazardous. Columbus was a dick, and naming anything else after him is probably not the Thing We Should Do in this day and age.
"Swampistan" or "Statey Mc Stateface" are obviously standout options that everyone can agree to... but probably won't get voted in by the fuddy duddies who make such decisions.
"North Virginia" or "East Virginia" are so stupid they will probably get a lot of votes. And West or South Maryland are dum too.
So what's your vote for the 51st state's name? Let's have some fun!
I saw "Potomac" floated which has a pretty good ring to it.
Yesterday, I floated (river pun!) "Patoma" to the wife. No "c". Official state song can be "Return of the Mac"
That's actually... really nice. I like that. It's also a Native American word, so goes along with the Dakotas and other states using indigenous words, so there is precedent, as well as states being named after their geographic features, like Mississippi.
Yeah of all the names I've seen legitimately floated, it's been my favorite. Not the mouthful that some of the others are, and it just sounds good and stately, beyond the benefit of honoring natives to our country, which would be excellent if we honored them by giving our country's capital a native name of sorts. It works on a lot of levels.
There are so many obvious reasons to be in favor of DC statehood, but I'm particularly excited for the opportunity for a totally urban state to be represented at the national level. Cities are structurally underrepresented in state and national politics, despite being the economic engines of our country. The creation of our first city-state could have significant long term benefits for the citizens of every city in the country.
I'm just excited for the Americans who live there to finally gain representation. There's more Americans in DC than in Wyoming or Vermont, and close to the same number of people in each of the Dakotas. (And let's not talk about other US Territories like Puerto Rico and Guam.)
I can imagine it just staying "District of Columbia", or the state of Columbia.
I think we should call it Washington State and make the existing Washington come up with something new. Maybe "Cascade?"
Why can't it stay a district? We have a handful of commonwealths, why not a district? I don't care as long as nobody pulls a Los Angeles Angles of Anaheim stunt.